


The Sky's Muse

by sharkiyoo



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, F/M, Fluff, God and Muse, Hyungki, Hyungwon Human, Kihyun God, Kihyun God of the Skies, M/M, Mythology - Freeform, Painting the sky, Told like a folktale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-15
Updated: 2019-09-15
Packaged: 2020-10-19 05:31:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20651996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sharkiyoo/pseuds/sharkiyoo
Summary: Kihyun is a young god charged with painting the skies and Hyungwon becomes his unknowing muse. The human begins to notice how the sky changes for him and finds comfort in it. If only he could meet the one who paints it for him.





	The Sky's Muse

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Icy_Peachy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Icy_Peachy/gifts).

> For Elane, a true child of the stars, thank you for existing and being a good friend <3   
I hope you can enjoy. Mayhaps next time I will write it as long, pink, curly god Hyungwon hehe.

There once was a young god who came into power of painting the skies with color and light. Blinded to his would be canvas before the passing of his predecessor, Kihyun knew little of the beauty and importance he had to instill. He needed, not only to paint the skies, but also give every one of the slightest changes that bring life giving rain, the gentle swoop of a breeze, and the careful touches of sunlight. 

Not sure where to turn, Kihyun began as an artist, and looked to the masters of humans past. In their works he saw a reverence for the ever changing sky. He saw the sun - whom he knows as Minhyuk, rain, and snow, the moon - his friend Wonho. Then there were the colors, erupting from all around these celestial objects that other gods held in the sky. 

It was beautiful, but complicated. Because in these skies, the artists captured emotion. And as a newborn god, Kihyun did not understand emotion. He could trace the little nuances and understand - this is what the rain feels like to a human - but he could not understand what the feeling meant. 

Despite all of that complexity, these works of humans were flat and static. They did not lend themselves to the reality of the sky. Always moving and changing, every second a new picture. 

So Kihyun learned what he could, and painted the sky each day. He made it rain when the harvest gods pestered him for it, and during the winter months, the hearth god told him it should snow. But even as he began to grasp his abilities, Kihyun wanted to make something more beautiful for the humans below. It only seemed fair. He had the privilege of divine comfort while they toiled and suffered continually. If nothing else, he wanted to give them something beautiful - something that showed the world understood their struggles. 

And that’s how Kihyun found his muse in a human named Chae Hyungwon. 

There was no particularly grand event that lead Kihyun to Hyungwon, nor was it pure coincidence. He merely watched the humans below while waiting to paint the sky or turn the weather, and while few caught his eye, Chae Hyungwon made him stop and look again.

Kihyun had seen plenty of beautiful humans. At this point he had looked at nearly every human on earth, but most that held beauty did not hold it in their soul as well. Hyungwon, for whatever reason seemed to shine from within. 

For days, Kihyun found himself thinking about this human and wondering why he was so vivid. He noticed his sunsets getting brighter, his sunrises more colorful. Though the beauty was pure, Kihyun knew he couldn’t let his own strange infatuation color the skies.  _ Infatuation  _ wasn’t even a word he understood. So he pulled back on the excessive show of brilliance and sought to explain how he was feeling. Because  _ feeling  _ was new. 

First Kihyun asked his fellow gods. Minhyuk had become a close friend, so he asked his sun and while the older understood emotions himself, he found it difficult to explain. Though he gave plenty of imaginative explanation, Ki did not find understanding and his heart remained tight and confused. 

After Minhyuk, Kihyun went to Wonho. He earned a heartfelt explanation, but just like any other god he later asked, the explanation did nothing to settle the feeling inside. What had started as something that made his skies brighter, began to bring more clouds, buffeting winds, and dim lights. Kihyun was confused and longing and now that seeped into his work. No matter how much he wanted to keep that in check, he couldn’t. 

It showed so strongly in his skies that a senior god - Hyunwoo - came to check on Kihyun. When he asked what was wrong, Kihyun did his best to explain, but it was lacking and Hyunwoo pressed until the root of it came out. 

The elder - who had gone through this when he was a young god so many years ago - remembered the confusion and how he combated it. So he suggested to Kihyun the same. The only way to understand emotions was to study those that knew it best - the humans below. And he explained to Kihyun how to do that effectively while still holding the sky in its ever constant rotations.

\---

Over the next few days, Kihyun was able to watch over his chosen human. Slowly, even though his confusion didn’t yet fade, the clouds subsided and gave way to sun once more.  _ Feelings  _ began to make sense to the young god. He saw happiness in the way Hyungwon smiled and felt it with a swell in the human’s chest. Weariness grew familiar, for the busy human often craved sleep. Occasionally Kihyun met with sadness when the human let his tears fall. Other times the overwhelming feeling created a contained darkness that was dealt with by a foggy numbness. 

Though it wasn’t an emotion exactly, Kihyun also marveled at how Hyungwon made music. Sometimes he would mix different songs together with his complicated equipment, others he would play the keyboard or piano and let his voice come out in a soft melody. It was beautiful and more heavenly than any sound Kihyun thought he had heard before. 

All of these things Kihyun used as he initially intended - to better his work and show the humans that someone understood. Maybe it wasn’t as beautiful as the vivid sunrises of pure infatuation, but it was real. Only when Hyungwon smiled did Kihyun paint with such brilliant colors, with the perfect temperatures, and a free flowing breeze. For that was when Kihyun himself was happy. 

The young god painted the human’s emotions in the skies so clearly, that Hyungwon soon began to notice. It wasn’t the rain that made him sad - as it seemed to make many people.  _ No _ , it seemed much more like his sadness made the rain. When he felt its bitter twinge in his heart, the clouds began to come, and only after his own tears fell or that dark numbness ensued did the raindrops follow. 

At first he went through life feeling it was all some strange coincidence, but as the months passed it felt like more than that. When the thoughts in his head screamed at each other, a storm raged outside. When he was out with his friends - smiling on the outside but tired on the inside - a thick blanket of fog would roll over the city or thin clouds would cover the sun. And when he felt soft and hopeful (some of his most guarded emotions) that was when there were the best sunrises, the most beautiful sunsets, and even the nights with the brightest stars. A few times he  _ swore  _ there were colors in the sky - like the northern lights - except the northern lights don’t come down to Korea. 

It felt like someone was painting the sky for him, and it was nice. Somewhere out there, Hyungwon started to believe he had a guardian angel - at least one someone who understood him completely. The rain always made the sadness a little easier and the sun made his heart swell even more. Because he felt truly understood - something he hadn’t felt in ages.

There even came a time when Hyungwon’s sadness hadn’t yet passed, but the sun would peak through the clouds and made a perfect rainbow for him. When he felt hopeless it gave him something to hold onto, something to smile at. Those shafts of light felt like a hand being reached out - a hand that Hyungwon wanted so badly to hold. For he wanted nothing more than to know who or what understood him, and busied themselves with making  _ him  _ feel better when there were seven billion other humans in the world that they could focus on. He’d never felt special, so he wanted to hug whoever was making him feel special now. Whoever seemed to be longing for him as much as he longed for them. 

\---

Hyunwoo was so pleased with the young god’s work, that he returned to Kihyun, intending to praise him. However, he found that the younger was not happy himself. He told Hyunwoo that he had come to understand emotions through a human that had become his muse. And now Kihyun understood why his heart was so tight all the time, why every one of Hyungwon’s smiles made him ache. He was longing for the human whom he had gotten to know. Kihyun wanted to reach out and do more than he was doing, but a god cannot leave the skies and return. With no one else to take up his responsibilities, Kihyun would only dream of leaving. 

As the god of form and presence, Hyunwoo knew a way to ease Kihyun’s longing. He hadn’t offered it earlier for he didn’t know what the young god wanted. In actuality, Kihyun hadn’t known either. But the god of the skies had now mastered the balancing act of watching over his muse while keeping his work and his own emotions in order, so Hyunwoo knew he was ready for this. With his desires clear as the sun in the sky, Hyunwoo showed Kihyun how he could visit the human he held dear.

_ Dreams are a portal between the world of earth and the celestial plane. _ Hyunwoo himself discovered this when he took interest in a human. She was a kind woman, living in a time when such people were overlooked and cast down by society. He had only wanted to offer her the comfort that some people appreciated her and he found a way to do so by visiting her dreams. Unplanned as it was, the two fell in love and though existing in separate realities, they could have their own life together in this dream world. They could still hold each other while maintaining their waking lives. And when the woman’s life ended, Hyunwoo brought her to the heavens to always be by his side. She became a goddess that offers women protection and comfort.

This was the possibility that Hyunwoo offered Kihyun - to find out if his longing for Hyungwon was the beginning of a mutual love, and if it was, an opportunity to let it flourish. All Kihyun needed was for Hyungwon to accept him into his dreams - because even a god cannot tread in such territory if they are unwelcome. 

That night as the sun fell and the stars appeared in the skies, Kihyun waited patiently. He greeted each god that rose and painted the air around them light and fuzzy. While doing so, he watched, stayed aware of Hyungwon, waiting for the human to sleep. Past midnight, he finally drifted off and, though filled with an overwhelming amount of nerves, Kihyun went to meet him. 

At the threshold of the dream he lingered, afraid that Hyungwon wouldn’t know anything of his presence - wouldn’t want him to share in his dreams. The fear made Kihyun’s heart pound, but the only way to settle it was to try.

He called Hyungwon’s name and pressed forward, feeling the celestial plane slip away from around him. Without a moment of delay, he was enveloped in the dream. Everything felt airy and soft, Kihyun’s heart warmed and finally he looked his muse in the eyes. A dreamy version of the milky way surrounded them as they met, and Kihyun was impressed with how the creation of Hyungwon’s mind shimmered as the god explained his presence. 

For a few moments after they stood in silence, Hyungwon contemplating everything that was going on. A brilliant smile came to light up his face and he took a precious few steps towards Kihyun. Then their hands met - as both had been wanting for so long - and it felt like magic. 

\---

There was always a reason Hyungwon liked to sleep, not that anyone would have believed him if he told them. But he could put up with the nagging from his friends, because everytime he closed his eyes and drifted off, he met with Kihyun in their own little world. In the dreams that they shared, the two lovers could hold each other, and their time was filled with little touches and soft voices. 

As months turned into years, the two grew to know everything about each other. Their love rooted deeper. So even as Hyunwon’s family pestered him to seek out a relationship, he never faltered. Because he had the greatest love he could wish for and he knew that it would be eternal. 

Sometimes him and Kihyun talked about what kind of god the human would become. Throughout the years the answer changed many times, but Hyungwon never much cared what he would become, so long as he could stay by Kihyun’s side. They talked also about his life as a human. He pursed his dreams and became a DJ, using music to make people feel bright and dance. Just like Kihyun grew and learned from Hyungwon’s emotions and art, so too did Hyungwon learn from Kihyun’s. 

Together they were able to create escapes for the other people on earth, and each day they helped each other make those escapes more beautiful. Whether or not Kihyun had been a god, he was convinced he would have found Hyungwon, because each day he was just as entranced by the human as the previous. And of course there are many days Hyungwon wished Ki were human, but they made it work.

They make their art, together but separate, until the day that Hyungwon meets Kihyun on the celestial plane and they hold each other in reality for the first time. No longer are they just in each other’s hearts and thoughts and actions. They are by each other’s side. With his lover to guide him, Hyungwon quickly finds place - putting the subtle music of life on the winds. So this is how their forever of painting the sky and filling it with music begins. 

To this day, it is still possible to see the gods helping each other, as a not so familiar hand paints the sky with colors all his own, and the notes of a different voice drift through the wind. Always finding a new way to grow together and inspire with beauty and understanding, the wonderful humans on earth below. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I had this idea and with her picture board @letlxhoney (on twitter) inspired me to tell this kinda as a folktale or old mythology tale. It's something a little different so I hope you can enjoy! I definitely enjoyed not writing dialogue haha. I might write more short god stories in the future, like just flip around the positions. I really like the idea of gods and goddesses paired with Hyungki hehe


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